SOCIAL MEDIA AND CREATIVE TECHNOLOGIES: A RECIPE TO #SAVEBAGEGA

In October 2012, when the Follow The Money Team were developing their website, little did they know that the hashtag #SaveBagega was going to reach a staggering 600,000 people from over 100 countries. Consequently, putting more pressure on the government of Nigeria to attend to the urgent need of this ailing community.

Bagega is a village community in Zamfara, Northern Nigeria, where 1,500 children awaits urgent medical attention for lead poisoning. "All we had in mind was to create a web platform integrated with social media tools, and write reports (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Storify) that could amplify the voice of these helpless communities" said Hamzat Lawal, co - creator of the non-profit group that advocates, tracks, and visualizes aid meant for local communities.

Help save 1,500 Children in Zamfara today! #SaveBagega

GOV. ABDUL'AZIZ ABUBAKAR YARI           

HON. BELLO MARADUN MUTAWALLE

HON. IBRAHIM SHEHU GUSAU

HON. MU'AZU B/TUDU LAWAL

HON. LAWALI ANKA HASSAN

HON. DANGALADIMA UMAR SANI

HON. BILIYAMINU SHINKAFI YUSUF

HON. SANI RUWAN DORUWA IBRAHIM

SEN. KABIR GARBA M

SEN. SAHABI ALHAJI YAU

SEN. AHMAD RUFAI SANI

PROFESSOR ONYEBUCH CHUKWU (MINISTER FOR HEALTH)

MRS. HADIZA IBRAHIM MAILAFA (MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT)

ALH. MOHAMMED PATE (MINISTER OF STATE HEALTH)

AMB. BASHIR YUGUDU

Despite the massive coverage of the endemic going on in Zamfara State of Nigeria  (Human Rights Watch, HuffingtonPost, France24, Institute of Chattered Chemists, Premium Times, Nigerian Youth Climate Action, Channel4, ThisDay, Follow The Money) nothing concrete seems to be happening. Appeals from Senator bukola Saraki, Doctors without Borders, CSOs and NGO's both international and foreign including bloggers have fallen on deaf ears but as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.

For Nigerian Women (and Girls), It Will Take More Than YouWin. By ZAINAB SANDAH

Except for when the camera generally sweeps through the Federal Executive Council seating, you hardly see or hear from Hajiya Zainab Maina, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development. That is, until she was recently reported by Daily Trust as saying that ‘the YouWin program is aimed at facilitating women’s transition from informal to formal sector of economic development’. (Thank God it’s that simple!) But perhaps not so, and Honourable Minister underestimates the daily challenges being faced by women and girls across the country and needs reminding why empowering 6,000 (or 1,200?) out of 80 million women, 54 million of whom are rural and mired in backbreaking and unskilled labour should not presuppose an automatic facilitation of transition to formal sector of economic development.

Globalisation of floods: The start of hundred years of change in Nigeria. By Dele Sobowale

“Climate change is more threatening than people realize”- Dr Kim, CNN, October 12, 2012.

Another climatologist has gone further by stating that climate change and the advent of perennial floods are already reshaping civilization as we know it and very few countries will emerge intact from the impact of climate change. Nigeria is no exception. Countries with long coastal regions and many rivers, which hitherto had benefited from water provided by rivers, seas and oceans will be the hardest hit.

It was in the 1980s that globalisation of markets became the mantra of the leading thinkers in management studies. “In today’s market you don’t have to go abroad to experience international competition. Sooner or later, the world comes to you”. “Harvard Business Review, March-April, 2002”. (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p75). That explains why no sooner than a new product is released in America, Japan, China, etc, and it is available in Nigerian  markets.

#NGFloods: THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE SOUTH-EAST RESPONSE. BY Akachukwu Okafor

The floods are finally here, no doubts about that.  It has come with its full rage totally submerging communities, farmlands, destroying lives and property along its path, with thousands rendered homeless, now taking shelter as Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) and over 25 million predicted to be affected. No thanks to the increase in annual rainfall this year that caused excess water at Lagdo dam in Cameroun, Kainji, Shiroro, Jebba, Warama, Kiri dams in Niger, Kwara Kano, and Adamawa states respectively to be released. This resulted to over flow of the River Niger and River Benue in the form of flash and massive flood into communities along its plains and tributaries. Affected states includes: Niger, Kogi, Benue, Delta, Anambra, Sokoto, Kebbi, Bauchi, Katisna, Imo, Ebonyi, Adamawa, Kano, Jigawa, Gombe, Rivers, Cross River, Ondo, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Lagos. The magnitude of the devastation can only be expressed by calculating the total land mass of affected area, number of persons killed and displaced, impact on affected population, worth of property destroyed, impact on local and national economy and post flood recovery costs.

My New Nigeria. By Precious Arutase Forcados

A day after our great country's independence I decide to write you this. I want to advocate for my client Nigeria, and plead her case before those (NIGERIANS) who had charge her to the noble courts of COMPLAINTS (that might included you & me).

One of my teachers, Wale Salami, said ''Nigeria does not have a problem, Nigerians do''.

Before now we would have thought about so many things about our country, if we where to debate against the country you can outline flawlessly so many points to convince me and others not to live in Nigeria.

Youth Meet-Up on MDGs & SDGs in Nigeria #EducationFirst

EDUCATION IN CRISIS AND THE POST-2015 FRAMEWORK 

#EducationFirst #yahuzameetup 

On June 22, 2012, at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (RIO+20), governments of countries agreed on a Future We Want outcome document which includes commitments to certain sustainable development goals. However, how ambitious these commitments are still remains a point of arguments amongst concerned parties, and as we approach the post-2015 era we hope to amplify the voices of people directly affected by poverty, injustice and their perspectives on a future global post-2015 framework.

The role that quality education (one of the SDGs, paragraph 229) plays in development emphasizes its capacity to reverse the rate of poverty in Nigeria, while in recent years key correlates of fragility in Nigeria include education.

The Task Belongs to the Youth to Save Nigeria. By Rayyan Umar

I AM 24 years old; I hold a BSc. as well as an MSc., from a reputable business school in England; I am well on my way to making the transition from “student member” of the ACCA (Association of Certified Chartered Accountants) to full membership; I am a couple of months away from finishing up my Youth Service in a government agency. In an ideal world, I would be the poster boy for optimism with regard to my future, yet I find that this is not entirely the case.

400 children die from lead poisoning in Zamfara

Source: zainabusman.wordpress.com 

An estimated 400 children have died from the inhalation of lead poison in six communities in Zamfara state, Nigera, due to improper mining practices.

Mr. Hamzat Bala Lawal, the National Coordinator, African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC), Nigeria chapter, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen yesterday in Abuja.

Lawal, who is also the Advisor, Nigerian Youth Climate Action Network (NYCAN), said that the root cause of the lead poisoning was unsafe mining and ore processing.

Nigeria & Climate Change Adaptation. By Stanley Ijeoma

Climate change is on the minds of every country, but perhaps nowhere will the effects be so dramatic or potentially calamitous as in Africa. Stanley Ijeoma, a foremost "Enviropreneur" and one of only two Africans on the Board of World Council for Renewable Energy, shares his vision for what will be necessary for Nigeria to adapt to the impending impacts of climate change. 

The article identifies a set of eight strategies that involve both governmental action as well as private sector investments and address economic, infrastructure, education and social aspects of Nigerian life.

Advisor Tasks Youths On Climate Change

Hamzat

Advisor, Hamza Lawal, Nigerian Youth Climate Action Network (NYCAN) , an NGO, says the effective combat of climate change and improved environmental sustainability rest on the shoulders of the youths.

Lawal, who is also a member, Steering Committee SustainNIGERIA, spoke at the children’s’ day celebration and the introduction of the Abuja Rio +20 on Sunday, at the Millennium Park, Abuja.

He said that this was so because children and the youths constituted more than 60 per cent of the total population of Nigeria and represented the generation mostly affected by climate change.

“Though climate change affects everyone, we bear the greatest brunt of its impact because it is in our time and in our children’s’ future that the full consequences would be felt,’’ he said

Tweet-Meet on Oil Spills in the Niger Delta

The Niger Delta is the location of massive oil deposits, which have been extracted for decades by the government of Nigeria and by multinational oil companies. Oil has generated an estimated $600 billion since the 1960s. Despite this, the majority of the Niger Delta’s population live in poverty, with crumbling social infrastructure and services, high unemployment, social deprivation, abject poverty, filth and squalor, and endemic conflict. The majority of the people of the Niger Delta do not have adequate access to clean water or health-care.  

Lawmakers pass National Climate Change Commission Bill

Nigeria’s House of Representatives has passed a Bill for the establishment of the National Climate Change Commission.

This is the second time the House is passing the Bill after the harmonised version that was sent to the President was not assented to before the expiration of the last assembly.

Reacting to the bill’s passage the Nigeria Youth Climate Action Network commended the determination of the House for giving legislative backing to issues of climate change.

Reps pass bill on climate change

The House of Representatives has passed the Bill for the establishment of the National Climate Change Commission. This is the second time the House is passing the Bill after the harmonised version that was sent to President Goodluck Jonathan was not assented to before the expiration of the last Assembly.

Document management system for sustainable future

Maureen Chinweokwu of Young & Bailey Nigeria Limited and Hamzat Bala Lawal of the International Centre for Energy, Environment & Development (ICEED) stress in this piece that every business should strive to have a positive impact on the environment and its community by adopting and implementing sustainable policies that improve the quality of life for its customers and employees.

Everywhere, on the news; the internet; adverts; politics; social movements; entertainment and even in technology, environmental friendliness is being promoted. So we engage ourselves by using energy saving bulbs, planting trees and flowers, eating less of processed foods and recycling.